Brushes have been used for many years in connection with removing material or polishing the outer surfaces of various articles, work pieces, or items. Typically, such brushes include a cylindrical hub to which a plurality of bristles are secured and extend in a radial direction. The bristles may be manufactured from a variety of different synthetic and non-synthetic materials with the selection of a material for a brush's bristles often depending on the particular application for which the brush is to be used. The cylindrical hub generally has bore extending between the hub's ends and adapted to allow the brush to be mounted on a shaft and rotated at a rotational speed appropriate for the brush and the particular application for the brush. An article, work piece or item is introduced into contact with the rotating brush to enable the brush's bristles to contact the article, work piece or item's outer surface. Through engagement of the outer surface with the rotating bristles, material may be removed from the outer surface and/or the outer surface may be smoothed and polished.
In the poultry processing industry, brushes are used to remove feathers from birds as a precursor to further processing. The birds are brought into contact with one or more rotating brushes via a conveyor system. The rotating brushes engage the birds' skin and feathers, removing the feathers from the skin and making the birds ready for rendering. The brushes for this application may have bristles secured to the brushes' hubs through a number of different methods. In one method, the bristles are secured to an inner surface of the hub and protrude through openings in the hub in a radial direction. In another method, the bristles are stapled to an outer surface of the hub and protrude from the hub in a radial direction. Unfortunately, both methods of securing the bristles often result in biological material from the birds becoming trapped in the openings and by the staples, making cleaning of the brushes to meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards difficult and time-consuming.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a brush that may be used in connection with poultry processing to remove feathers from poultry birds and/or in other applications for removal of material from or polishing of a surface, that is easy to clean as required by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards, and that solves these and other difficulties, shortcomings, or problems of current technology.